The fear factor is driving political decisions

Scotland’s independence referendum, the EU vote and now the Brexit deal: the message to be very afraid is working

Magnus Linklater

Monday March 04 2019, 12.01am, The Times

Fear. Maybe that ultimately drives politics and our democracy. Fear of failure, fear of disaster more likely, whether that is the trashing of reputations, the verdict of history, or the revenge of the people. It was certainly part of the independence referendum, and it kept Scotland inside the UK. This week BBC Scotland launches a series exploring the inside story of that extraordinary episode. What struck me, watching a preview of part one, was the way that politicians — however confident they may appear in public — feel themselves the prisoner of events heading towards them like a driverless train; there seems no obvious way of slowing it down, let alone stopping it before it crashes through the barriers.